The Fábrica do Inglês and the Cork Museum, both on the same site in Silves, have been auctioned off.
The complex closed in 2009 due to overwhelming debts of the owner which had turned the old cork factory into a restaurant, leisure complex and Cork Museum.
Silves council announced last week that it was to bid at auction for the historically valuable contents of the museum and had agreed a budget for an upper limit for its final bid.
In steps the Nogueira Group, new owners of Ali-Coop and AliSuper the former owners of the Silves site, and outbid the council much to the visible upset of the mayor, Rosa Palma.
The base price was €30,600 for the contents but João Nogueira paid €36,000, well over the upper limit agreed by the council.
CGD bank is the largest creditor of the bankrupt company, Fábrica do Inglês Gestão de Empresas Imobiliárias e Turísticas SA, and secured the buildings for the base price of €2,239,600.
Silves council claimed already to have entered into negotiations with local cork business Amorim Group but these plans now must be abandoned asJoão Nogueira now owns the museum contents and will not say what the future holds.
Nogueira did hint that there may have been a slight lack of communication with the council, in reality he did not know that it would be bidding, but aims now to do the right thing with the collection of valuable cork processing machinery and irreplaceable historical records.
Speaking to Sul Informaçao after the auction, the businessman said that "the strategy for now is to maintain the estate. We did not know who was going to buy the facility and what will happen to it. The buildings are now owned by CGD but tomorrow may be sold. We have to talk with CGD to see if we come to some agreement that is good for Silves."
João Nogueira said in a statement to Sul Informaçao that his Nogueira Group intends to reopen the Cork Museum.
Amorim were represented at the auction but did not enter any bids as the company was happy for the council to buy the museum contents. A company spokesman said that the company has been monitoring the auction process to prevent the collection being sold for scrap, but in the end it did not need to intervene.
No property developers were present as the old Cork Factory site is one of municipal interest and can not be developed, unless it becomes of no municipal interest, a situation that was always a worry under the previous council regime.
Meanwhile, rather late in the day, the National Committee of the International Council of Museums said on Monday that it has a "deep concern about the future and final destination” of the Cork Museum contents that were purchased at the public auction by the Nogueira Group.
